High interest to push further cost of manufactured exports: EEPC chairman Anupam Shah

KOLKATA: While RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan has acknowledged the role of “resilient exports” in bridging the trade deficit and current account deficit, such a resilience cannot be taken for granted unless we get our act together in domestic manufacturing, said EEPC chairman Anupam Shah.

The merchandise exports largely comprise manufacturing, a sector which is losing ground fast thanks to a number of issues. Unless we revive the manufacturing , exports will not be able to sustain growth as the RBI itself, has recognised , the external environment is quite uncertain.

"We from the engineering export community would strongly urge the central bank to immediately implement the expert committee report on financial inclusion so that the manufacturing, particularly in the MSME sector is revived. The rise in the Repo rate would further increase the cost of production and make Indian merchandise expensive in the international market. Whatever advantage is accruing from the currency depreciation is being more than taken away by the domestic inflation," Shah added.